Map Skills

Topic: Map Skills

Objectives & Outcomes

• Students will be able to identify the continents, oceans, hemispheres, latitudes and longitudes on a map.

Materials

• Map of the world
• Markers or colored pencils
• Handouts with information about the continents, oceans, hemispheres, latitudes and longitudes

Warm-up

• Ask students if they know what a map is and what it is used for.
• Write the word "map" on the board and ask students to brainstorm a list of things they might find on a map, such as land, oceans, countries, cities, landmarks, etc.
• Discuss the items on the list as a class and explain that a map can provide information about these things and more.

Direct Instruction

• Show students a world map and point out the different continents, oceans, and hemispheres.
• Discuss the names of the continents and oceans and the locations of each.
• Show students a map of their own country and discuss the names of the different provinces or states and their locations.
• Discuss the concept of latitude and longitude and how it is used to measure the location of places on a map.
• Show students a map of the world with latitude and longitude lines and have them identify the different lines.

Guided Practice

• Have students work in pairs to identify the names of different countries and their latitudes and longitudes on the world map.
• Encourage students to use the maps and their knowledge of geography to find the locations of the countries.
• As a class, discuss the locations of the countries and how they were found.

Independent Practice

• Have students work in small groups to create a map of their own classroom or school.
• Encourage students to use their knowledge of geography to accurately represent the locations of different objects in the room or school.
• As a group, discuss the accuracy of the map and any changes that need to be made.

Closure

• Review the continents, oceans, hemispheres and latitudes and longitudes that were covered in the lesson.
• Ask students to share one thing they learned about geography during the lesson.

Assessment

• Observe students during the guided and independent practice activities to ensure they are accurately using the correct terms and concepts in their maps.
• Collect and review the maps students created during the independent practice activity to assess their understanding of the material.